The long-awaited big-screen adaptation of The Giver, Lois Lowry’s classic young-adult distopian novel, finally hits theaters this weekend. The reviews, so far, are mixed. But isn’t that the case with the most-beloved novels? Often, we’re so attached to the source material that any variation of the images we imagined while reading them can be infuriating. At the same time, many adaptations of beloved books falls flat simply because it’s a poor cinematic copy of the original story — no effort has been made to frame the plot for the medium of film. There have been, of course, many great big-screen adaptations, and here are the best of the best.

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'Charlotte's Web' (1973)

Photo: Paramount Pictures; Courtesy Everett Collection

Forget the star-studded live-action remake (in which, I discovered today, Oprah played a goose?). The only version of E. B. White’s classic children’s book Charlotte’s Web that’s worth watching is this classic animated musical, featuring the voice talents of Debbie Reynolds, Henry Gibson, Danny Bonaduce (!), and, of course, the incredible Paul Lynde. This classic, about a talented spider and her adorable pig friend, features songs written by the team that composed the music for other classics like Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Jungle Book. [GoWatchIt]

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'The Hunger Games' (2012)

Photo: Lions Gate; Courtesy Everett Collection

My opinion of Jennifer Lawrence’s talent notwithstanding, The Hunger Games is an awesome film. It handles the subject matter without a heavy hand, but also doesn’t shy away from the fact that, hey, teenagers fighting each other to the death is actually pretty horrifying! But that doesn’t mean it’s not an entertaining adventure film, one that pits two likable heroes up against a cruel larger force. [GoWatchIt]

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'Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory' (1971)

Photo: Paramount Pictures; Courtesy Everett Collection

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is such a revered family classic that it’s quite possible you saw it before you got a chance to read Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Sure, the film puts more focus on Gene Wilder’s character than young Charlie — well, he at least gets more billing in the title. But the film also gave us some incredible songs — not to mention served as an inspiration for the ’90s band Veruca Salt. (Oh, and no, you definitely do not want to watch the abomination that was Tim Burton’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.) [GoWatchIt]

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'Fantastic Mr. Fox' (2009)

Photo: Twentieth Century Fox; Courtesy Everett Collection

Roald Dahl wrote numerous books that were turned into lovable movies — The Witches and James and the Giant Peach are two other examples — but Wes Anderson’s claymation adaptation of Fantastic Mr. Fox is an absolute delight and perfectly captures the joyful, and often dark, nature of Dahl’s fictional world. Anderson assembled an amazing cast of actors to lend their voices to his film, including his regular players like Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, and Owen Wilson, as well as George Clooney, Meryl Streep, and Michael Gambon. [GoWatchIt]

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'Where the Wild Things Are' (2009)

Photo: Warner Bros; Courtesy Everett Collection

Spike Jonze’s live-action version of Where the Wild Things Are, which he co-wrote with novelist Dave Eggers, was an ambitious project, and it received mixed reviews from critics and those who hold Maurice Sendak’s book near and dear to their hearts. But sometimes great adaptations don’t necessarily mean they’re carbon-copies of the source material (see also: Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining). Jonze’s film was a children’s movie for adults, taking the nostalgic feels everyone has when looking at those classic images of those monsters and turning them on their head. Instead of a straight-forward movie adaptation, Jonze made a poetic and touching look at childhood and make-believe, and it’s an endearing, beautiful film. [GoWatchIt]